Digital information level low among underprivileged

Published : Feb 21, 2017 - 09:36 Updated : Feb 21, 2017 - 09:36

The level of digital information among underprivileged people in South Korea improved in 2016 from the previous year, but it remained far lower than the national average, a poll showed Tuesday.

According to the survey of 15,000 people nationwide, the digital information level among the so-called information have-nots stood at 58.6 percent of the average for all South Koreans, up 6.2 percentage points from a year earlier.

This undated file photo shows a handicapped child participating in an information technology competition. (Yonhap)

The digital information level measures access to the Internet and ownership of fixed and wireless information devices; the ability to use computers and other mobile digital tools; and the scope of harnessing the Internet.

The poll, taken by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, and the National Information Society Agency, was taken on the nation's information have-nots, who include senior citizens, people in the low-income bracket, farmers and fishermen, and the physically challenged.

According to the findings, the digital information level was 77.3 percent of the national average for people in the low-income bracket, with the corresponding number standing at 54 percent for citizens aged 55 and older.

Their access level came to 84.5 percent of the national average last year, up 10.8 percentage points from the previous year. The figure for ability amounted to 45.2 percent, up 7.8 points, with that for scope gaining 7.4 percentage points to 59 percent.

South Korea is one of the world's most wired nations, with more than 85 percent of its 50 million population accessing the Internet. Nearly 7 in 10 South Koreans are known to own a smartphone, the fourth-highest smartphone penetration rate in the world. (Yonhap)